Thanks to a new report from Web-directories.ws, it is possible to see that the directory industry is still going strong. Sometimes as we see certain directories get penalized or lose pagerank, there can be a perception that the directory industry is losing ground. Fortunately, the numbers tell a much different story:
Link to full article
It’s true that some directories got penalized over the last two updates, but if you look at the overall trend for directories, there is plenty of growth going, both in terms of total number of directories, and also the pagerank of those directories.
One issue that has affected many directories is the loss of internal pagerank. This issue not only affected directories, but also, affected many other sites such as forums and ecommerce sites. What has been good to see is many directories are seeing a return of pagerank to internal pages too.
What we are also seeing in the directory industry is an increasing number of regional and niche directories. There is the idea that there are too many general directories. While some of the better maintained ones are still doing well, we are seeing some of the others have less importance. Fortunately for the industry, we are seeing plenty of new ways to make a directory about a niche or a locality. There will be a follow up article about this coming soon.